Monday, 11 July 2016

I have been thinking about Ikebana and contemporary art for some time. There are many contemporary artworks that use flowers as media. However, I often felt that they were not using flower as Hana (flower). Many Ikebana practitioners would agree with what I feel. Some may even say that they are not using flower to express their love for flowers or that their flowers as are not alive. But such criticisms tend to be too shallow.

How can I explain the difference in the ways Ikebana artists and contemporary artists use flowers in their artworks? What is the Ikebana way of using flowers? After all I had to think about the definition of Ikebana and wrote a paper, Flowers in Contemporary Art, which was published in the International Journal of Ikebana Studies, Vol. 3. I analysed the artworks using flowers by three contemporary artists, Andy Goldsworthy, Sarah Sze, and Anya Gallaccio. I’ll write some of my findings here in the coming issues. If you found it interesting, please visit my site for summary of my paper. Further, if you would like to buy a copy of the journal please visit the site of International Society of Ikebana Studies (http://www.ikebana-isis.org).

I would like to show my work commissioned by Japan Foundation this month. I made this work for the Snow Travel Expo in Melbourne. Being challenged to use a new style with many restrictions was very hard but extremely rewarding.